1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an external airbag which is provided in a front portion of a vehicle and is deployed just before the vehicle collides with an obstacle in front of the vehicle in order to absorb impact.
2. Description of Related Art
Hitherto, development of airbags for vehicles has focused on airbags (hereinafter, referred to as “internal airbags”) which are installed in passenger compartments of vehicles to reduce a degree to which passengers are injured by collision with vehicle bodies or rigid parts in the passenger compartment. Driver-side airbags, passenger-side airbags, curtain airbags and seat-side airbags are representative examples of such internal airbags.
Recently, efforts have been made to reduce the impact to an entire vehicle which results from a collision with obstacles. An external airbag is one such effort. The external airbag is installed in a space between a bumper and a vehicle body. The external airbag is deployed forwards just before the vehicle collides with an obstacle, thus absorbing and mitigating impact.
However, to date, there has been taken only a conceptual approach to deploying an external airbag ahead of a bumper using gas pressure generated from an inflator. An external airbag system which can substantially exhibit the performance of protecting passengers has not yet been introduced.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.